On April 25th, singer Madison Beer released a memoir called The Half of It. In this book, Madison talks about the ups and downs she went through while trying to make it as a singer. Starting at a young age, Madison wanted to pursue a career as she loved to sing and entertain. Finally, she was discovered at 12 years old and moved to California. Her mother, Tracie Beer, dropped everything to support her daughter’s music career. As she began to find her way through the industry, many obstacles stood in her way.
First, intimate pictures of her were spread all over social media. The person she shared those photos with was a boy she was in a relationship with, which started her fear of trusting people. Upon these photos being leaked, she began to receive negative attention. She recalls being sent videos by middle-aged men reacting to her intimate photos in a predatory manner. The main component that bothered her was the hate. She feared going out because she thought her haters were going to confront her in public in a threatening manner. Most of the time, she would stay confined to her home and never go out. Her friends would have to pull teeth to have her go out for a bit.
One main thing Beer talks about in this memoir is her battle with mental health in adolescence. She talks about having ideations at the age of 16 and abusing substances. This also caused her and her mother to become distant. One big moment that triggered her mental health was when she was dropped from her record label. She took this hard because she felt like she let down her mom (the main supporter of her career). Of course, her mother was not disappointed or let down. Even though times were tough, her mother was always there for her.
During this dark time, Madison began her journey of learning to love herself. Unlike other memoirs, Madison made it interactive so everyone could engage. On some of the pages, there are journal prompts that invite the reader to answer them. As someone who is currently on their journey of self-love, I cried while writing some of the prompts. They made you think, which engaged and intrigued me even more.
I will say that this book shocked me. When she first became famous, I did not like her because of her affiliation with the boy group MAGCON. Once she dated Jack Gilinsky (a member of the group), I was envious of her, so I did not support her. When she started hanging out with David Dobrik and his crew, I began to listen to her music. Once I read this memoir, I realized we had so much more in common than I thought. She also teaches a wise lesson in this book about being mindful of what you comment on or say online. One quote that she said pertaining to this topic that I liked was, “I hope that we can find the strength to support each other and that we can work to treat others in the way we would want to be treated.” Moreover, this book is wonderful, and I encourage you to read it!